Artist Joana Vasconcelos brings her Spectacular Monumental Creations to Le Bon Marché
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After Ai Weiwei in 2016, Chiharu Shiota in 2017, and Leandro Erlich in 2018, Le Bon Marche has this year given carte blanche to the Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos, who brings her outsized extravagant creations to the windows and interior spaces of Le Bo
Artist Joana Vasconcelos brings her Spectacular Monumental Creations to Le Bon Marché
After Ai Weiwei in 2016, Chiharu Shiota in 2017, and Leandro Erlich in 2018, Le Bon Marche has this year given carte blanche to the Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos, who brings her outsized extravagant creations to the windows and interior spaces of Le Bon Marche. Featuring works of extraordinary dimensions, the exhibition “Branco Luz,” or “White as Light,” runs through February 17, as per the LVMH website.According to the website, an artist who thinks big with an unbridled imagination, embracing both traditional craftsmanship and provocative transgression, Joana Vasconcelos has in recent years emerged as a prominent figure on the Contemporary art scene. Her work, which explores the female condition, her favorite theme, is displayed in the world’s most prominent museums. In 2012, she became the first woman to exhibit at the Chateau de Versailles, joining artists such as Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami.This year the Portuguese artist has created a gigantic aerial suspension for Le Bon Marche entitled “Simone.” A mythological creature floating under the store’s glass roof above the aisles, “Simone’s” dimensions are truly extraordinary: 10 meters high, 12 meters wide, and 30 meters long. Halfway between a flying machine and a giant ant, this is the latest iteration in a series of Valkyries, the mythological female figures who appear regularly in the work of Joana Vasconcelos. Here, their envelope is crafted from a patchwork of fabrics with crochet embroidery and precious trimmings.According to the website, with an immaculate organic form set off by silvery details and soothing lights, “Simone” fits perfectly with the Art Deco architecture of Le Bon Marche, hugging the escalators and intertwined with the department store’s celebrated iron and steel pillars. “Simone” is joined by a second less monumental installation in the display windows along the rue de Sevres. The “Branco Luz” exhibition invites visitors to Le Bon Marche to experience Joana Vasconcelos’ unknown planet through February 17.Le Bon Marche Rive Gauche was the first department store in the world that opened in 1852 in Paris at the instigation of Aristide Boucicaut and his wife Marguerite. Combining unconventionality and elegance, this unique space designed by the architect Louis-Charles Boileau and the engineer Gustave Eiffel displayed a singular style influenced by the creative vitality of Paris’ Rive Gauche.Click on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the creation. https://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin Read more
